Haldimand County is putting about 0.225 acres of riverfront property in Dunnville on the market to sell.

At the Monday, December 10 Council in Committee meeting, council has voted to declare 322 Front Street in Dunnville as surplus property. The decision was voted 6-1 with Councillor Lorne Boyko opposed to selling the property.

“I don’t see any need to sell off that riverfront property,” said Boyko, adding that he believes the county can find a purpose for the land including potential marine uses.

Mayor Ken Hewitt said he also believes the land has some value, but only through its sale, and that it should be declared surplus property in order to utilize its full potential.

“It’s not doing us one bit of good. It has absolutely no value to the county,” said Hewitt, adding that the piece of property needs to go on the surplus list to find out the full potential of the land.

In early October, staff had received an offer to purchase the property at 322 Front Street in Dunnville, which spans 99 feet along the riverfront. The unsolicited offer prompted staff to put together a report to council recommending putting the county-owned land on the market.

Council instead chose to defer the issue pending final approval of the Dunnville Secondary Plan.

In 2004, a previous council had declared the land as surplus property, but in 2008 when the county received an offer to purchase the land, the council of the day chose to instead take the land off the market in the chance that it might be needed in the Dunnville Secondary Plan.

With council recently adopting the Secondary Plan at the November council meeting, the riverfront property in Dunnville was put back on the table.

Staff had once again recommended council declare the property as surplus stating that it was not required in the Dunnville Secondary Plan or any other future development projects.

Council later went into a closed session to discuss the unsolicited offer on the land.